Sonic Battle: New Screens and Video

Take a look at Sega's impressive new handheld fighting game, featuring all the Sonic characters and a spiffy 3D graphics engine.

It's not long until Sonic Battle's December 4 release date in Japan, which is a pretty good thing when you consider how well it's shaping up.

At E3 this year, only one arena was available but now, as you'll see in the direct feed video below, lots more are on offer. In usual Sonic style, you can use special attacks to beat up other characters, as well as basic punches and kicks you wouldn't find in your average Sonic platformer.

What's a little bit special about this GBA title though is the pseudo-3D look to the arenas; it's a bit like Mode-7 scaling but better, involving fairly elaborate 3D blocks, shapes and a rotating perspective to view the action according to the position of your character. Quite impressive indeed, for the technology being used.

There will be eight characters playable out of the box, along with one secret fighter to unlock. Perhaps the most promising aspect of the game is its depth, which suggests you'll have to master a range of attacks (Ground, Aerial and Defense) in order to defeat all opponents.

With four-player battles enabled though the use of a Link Cable, we could be looking at a really addictive fighting game if executed properly by Sega.

See how it all works and what it looks like in this new video, and stay tuned for more on Sonic Battle.

Kikizo: an influential entertainment and games website that punched above its weight, broke the rules and scooped its biggest rivals. Check out the full story from 1996 to present day at the Kikizo Archives.